Letters From The Sky
It started out as a relatively normal Monday at NCIS Headquarters. Well, at least, as normal as it could be, with Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Jennifer Shepard there.
They had a knockdown, drag out fight that morning, both of their screaming voices reverberating off the orange walls of the bullpen. This, their first since Gibbs' return from his 'margarita safari' in Mexico, quickly eclipsed all of their other fights.
"Agent Gibbs, you obviously forget whose office it says Director on. Last I checked, it most definitely did not say Director Gibbs. You will not countermand me in front of the FBI again."
"Jen, you just handed over our damn case without a fight!" His blue eyes flashed dangerously as he stepped forward, encroaching on her space.
"It's Director or ma'am, Agent Gibbs, as I so frequently have to remind you! And you have no jurisdictional argument on this case! I had to hand it over to the FBI, by order of SecNav, so I'd advise you to get the hell over it and go transfer your files, now." Jenny pointed sharply at the door, turning her back to him as a clear dismissal. "You and your team are on my security detail tonight, I want you up here at 1800 hours."
"Will that be all, Madam Director?" His voice had lowered to a snarl as he glared at her back.
"Yes, that will be all. Agent Fornell will be over at 1300 hours to pick up your files and evidence, please have them ready by then."
She glanced up, getting a furious door slam in reply, letting out a low sigh. She missed their old friendship, before Mexico. They had nearly gotten past what happened in Paris and after, and then Jethro up and left to Mexico, with half of his memory gone. Things needed to get back to the way they were, before their relationship was damaged irreparably.
Everything had happened so fast. One second, she was standing at the podium with Tom Morrow, accepting a small award with a smile and murmured thanks, and the next, Tim McGee and Ziva were tackling her and Tom to the ground as shots rang out. She peeked out from her position under McGee's arm, noting Tony kneeling by an extremely familiar looking body.
"No, Boss, c'mon, don't do this to me, please. Abby's gonna kick my ass. You gotta hang on, Boss, Fornell said EMT's are on the way." Tony's voice cracked slightly, pleading with the man on the floor, his blood soaked hands pressing a wadded-up jacket onto the wounds on Gibbs' chest.
Jenny shoved vaguely at McGee, finally succeeding in pushing him away, her feet moving on autopilot to Tony's side. "Jethro?"
Ice blue eyes blinked open, the corners of his lips twitching in a vague smile. "C—couldn't…can't let our Director get sh—shot, it'd kill our re—rep…reputation." He coughed, hard, a faint mist of blood spraying out from his lips.
Tony winced as the spray hit his face, leaning down to press harder on the wounds. "C'mon, Boss, you'll be okay."
Gibbs chuckled, which rapidly turned into a pained cough, more blood dribbling out of his lips. "N—not so sure about that, Di—DiNozzo. Th—think my lu—luck's run out this time." He lifted a bloody hand to the jacket pressed against his chest, biting back a moan of pain.
"No, don't say that, Boss. C'mon, you've gotta be okay…you've gotta go fight to get our case back from the fibbies." Tony swallowed heavily, lifting his gaze to Jenny's for a minute, desperately grasping at anything to keep Gibbs talking. "Who's gonna argue with the Director now?"
"Heh…that's y—your job n—now." His voice was rapidly weakening as he lifted a hand, motioning them both closer as the other hand shakily made its way to his pocket. Gibbs pulled out a black pocketknife, which he pressed into Tony's shaking hands. "Y—your team now, Tony."
He raised cloudy blue eyes to meet Jenny's gaze, reaching out to brush his fingers over her cheek. "S—sorry, Jen. Shoulda fought more, for you." Nerveless fingers fumbled at his wrist, snapping off the silver bracelet there, before he trapped her hands in a surprisingly strong grasp, pressing the metal jewelry into her palm. "Tell Abs…sorry I couldn't fix things."
Gibbs was wracked with another heavy bout of coughing, bright red blood trickling down the corner of his mouth. He let out a low moan, squeezing Jenny's hand tightly one last time, before his grip slackened, his hand falling to the ground limply as the light in his eyes faded.
They operated on autopilot for most of the rest of the day, simply going through the motions. McGee and Fornell headed up a task force searching for the shooter while Jenny, Tony, and Ziva accompanied the body back to NCIS.
Abby sobbed hysterically into Tony's chest, her small fists beating at his shoulders as he hugged her, ignoring the bloodstains on his shirt and hands. She was inconsolable for the rest of the day, sitting in her darkened lab, her usual pigtails down around her face.
Jenny couldn't quite find the words to comfort Ducky, merely gripping his hand tightly as he sank into his chair, pushing his glasses up on his forehead. "He…um…Fornell, he said that he could find someone to do the…" She gestured weakly at the cold, steel autopsy table, her voice faltering as her gaze settled on the black body bag laying there.
Ducky shook his head. "No. I'll…I'll do it. It's the least I could do for Jethro." He rapidly shooed her out of the room, his face weary and looking every bit of his age.
Tears formed in the ME's eyes as he lifted a shaking hand to the zip on the body bag. He let out a low sigh. "I thought we had agreed, you'd be burying me, not the other way around, Jethro?" His shoulders slumped at the deathly silence that answered him.
"Got him, Director." McGee's voice echoed down the phone line as Jenny stood in the middle of the bullpen. "Double tap to the chest. We're bringing the body to NCIS."
"Good job, Tim." She couldn't find the words to say anything else before he hung up. Her gaze flickered over to Tony's empty desk, before she glanced over at Ziva.
"He, ah, took Gibbs' keys and left half an hour ago, with the contents of the bottom right drawer of his desk." Ziva pointedly avoided looking at her boss' empty desk, instead staring at Tony's as if in a trance.
Jenny frowned as she pulled up to Jethro's home, where Tony's car was parked haphazardly in the driveway.
"I was looking for his dress blues." Tony's voice wavered slightly as he stared at the polishing rag and sword in his hands, the rest of Jethro's dress blues meticulously laid out on his bed, the medals and insignia ordered and polished. "I figured…he'd want to be buried in it. He's still listed in the Reserves…did you know that? 'Course you did, you're the Director, dunno why I asked." He laughed hollowly, flashing a ghost of his usual smile at her.
"Tony…" She offered a shaky smile, sitting down next to him. "I don't know everything, contrary to popular belief."
"Heh. Sure seems like you do, sometimes. You and the Bo-." He swallowed heavily, his hands shaking on the sword. "Well, it's just you now, I guess." His voice was soft as he stared down at his hands.
Jenny gently lifted the gleaming sword from his grasp, sliding it back into the scabbard. "He…he would've wanted this, Tony. It's…good of you to think of it."
"Yeah? It's what he wanted? What about us? Huh? What if this isn't what we wanted?" Tony raised tortured hazel eyes to meet hers, fiddling loosely with the rag in his lap. "Dammit, we've already been through this shit once! Gibbs isn't supposed to die! He's goddamn Superman!"
"Tony…"
He was angry now, chucking the dirty rag across the room as he leaped up, running agitated hands through his hair. "No! He gives us all this 'you don't have my permission to die' bull, like he's God or something, but then we're all supposed to deal and move the fuck on if he's dead! H—he actually had the gall to be pissed at me when I came back a week early after the plague, but he was back in the office the next goddamn day when Ari shot him! He—he…" Tony's shoulders slumped, his gaze dropping to the floor. "It's not fair."
Jenny sighed heavily, walking over to grab both of his shoulders. "Tony…he's…" She shrugged helplessly. "That's just the way Jethro wa—is." She sniffed. "He thinks of all of us as family, and you know he'd sacrifice himself for one of us in a heartbeat. It's just…that's his way."
Tony managed a weak smile, reaching up to pat one of her hands, before he stepped forward and wrapped her in a surprising hug, muffling his voice against her shoulder. "Promise me we won't lose anybody else. I can't—I can't lose the only family I've got."
Jenny took a deep breath, drawing strength from Tony's hug. "I promise."
NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs was buried with full honors in Arlington National Cemetery, next to the graves of his late wife and child. His burial was accompanied with a full Marine Honor Guard, complete with 21 gun salute. Contrary to the funeral attendees' feelings, it was an unusually bright and sunny day, for winter in D.C.
Surprisingly, nearly half of the Directors from the federal agencies turned out for his funeral, along with what seemed like the entire population of Washington, D.C. All three ex-wives made their appearances, Diane standing alongside Tobias Fornell in a rare gesture of kindness towards her other husband. The ubiquitous red-head who had been seen numerous times around headquarters with Jethro also came, leaving a small bouquet of roses by the headstone, along with a worn and frayed ball cap.
Jenny stood off to the side, watching as people stepped up to pay their respects. An older, slightly stooping man walking with a cane stood near the back of the crowd, his free hand tucked in the pocket of his leather jacket. She cocked an ear as he finally made his way in front of the grave, gripping the cane in one white knuckled hand. "Hey, there, Leroy."
He paused a minute, rubbing a shaking hand over his face. "Never thought I'd be in your place, son. Never thought I'd have to watch as they lowered my boy into the ground." His shoulders shook with a barely repressed sob, his silver-haired head ducking slightly. "God, I'm so sorry, Lee. We're both stubborn old men, aren't we? Couldn't pull our fool heads out of our asses long enough to apologize, could we?" He laughed hollowly, sounding more like a sob. "Your mother would've headslapped the both of us for acting like this, hm?"
He crouched with a considerable deal of effort, leaning heavily on the cane to support his balance. He fumbled in his pocket, pulling out something small that jingled faintly. "I, uh…finished your car, son. She looks real nice, got the paint job you wanted. Runs like a dream. I—I was going to uh, I was going to bring it by, sometime, try to fix things between us…guess it's too late now."
The man crouched there for a moment longer, his silver head bowed, before he finally levered himself back up to his feet. He reached out and patted the gravestone lightly. "You tell that little girl of yours hey from Granpa Jack…and give your mother a hug from me, son. I love you. Sorry it took something like this for us to be together again." He stepped back, snapping to attention. "Semper Fi, Marine."
Jenny stepped forward as he turned away, offering a small smile. "Mr. Gibbs?"
He looked up, raising a set of piercing blue eyes he had obviously passed on to his son. "Yes, ma'am?"
Jenny fidgeted with the folded flag in her hands, her eyes flickering over Jethro's grave again. "I'm Jenny, Jenny Shepard. I'm Gib—Leroy's boss. I…the Honor Guard, they gave this to me, but…I really think it ought to go to you, sir, you're his father."
The elder Gibbs managed a pained looking smile, shaking his head. "No, no, I can't accept that, miss. There's obviously a reason Leroy listed you as his next-of-kin. That flag belongs to you."
She nodded after a long moment, hugging the flag back to her chest. "Jethro…he never mentioned a father."
"We haven't talked in fifteen years." His ice blue gaze was filled with pain. "Haven't talked since he buried Shannon and Kelly."He patted her hands, holding the flag, and turned to go. "I'm glad Leroy found happiness again, even if I never got to meet you 'til now." Jenny watched as he straightened his shoulders and limped away, his cane clicking softly on the paved walkways.
Zachary Tanner approached next, looking older than his seven years in a suit and tie, frowning at the grave. He glanced over at Jenny, who stood close, his green eyes confused. "Why's Gibbs' headstone say Gunnery Sergeant? I thought he was a Special Agent?"
"Gibbs wa—is a Marine, Zach. Gunnery Sergeant is his rank, just like your father is a Commander in the Navy." Jenny knelt by the boy's side, offering a shaky smile.
"Oh." His gaze flickered over to the neighboring graves. "He had a daughter, too, didn't he?" Zach pointed to Kelly's grave, his face solemn.
"Yes. That was his daughter, Kelly. She was killed in a car accident."
Zach nodded slowly, his eyebrows furrowed. He fidgeted with the button on his jacket a moment, finally tilting his head back to look up in the sky. "Well…he's up there now, with his Kelly, right? So that means he's happy now. That's all that matters."
Jenny jerked awake with a gasp, nearly falling out of the uncomfortable plastic chair, her green eyes darting around to take in her surroundings. Her memories of how the day had really gone filtered back into place as she shook off the last remains of her nightmare.
Jethro had leaped in front of a shooter aiming for her, taking a bullet to the chest, left shoulder, and lower right abdomen. An EMT on scene managed to stabilize him long enough to make it to Bethesda, where he was rushed back into surgery. After nearly four hours in the OR, Jethro was wheeled out into an ICU room, hooked up to more tubes and machines than Jenny knew what to do with.
She hadn't left his bedside since they rolled him out of the OR, curled up in the horrid plastic chair, her slim fingers wrapped around his limp hand. Ducky kept vigil in the chair opposite, his grey eyes weary as he closely monitored the readouts on each of Jethro's charts.
"Jennifer…you really ought to go home, get some sleep. Nothing's changed in the past few hours, which is a good thing in Jethro's case." The ME switched his gaze to her kindly, his accented voice breaking the silence in the room.
"I—I'm fine, Ducky, really." Jenny shook her head sharply, reluctant to leave his side after the terror caused by her nightmares. She rubbed a hand over her eyes, blinking rapidly to rid them of sleep. "I can't…I don't want to leave him alone, not again."
The ME eyed her shrewdly, glancing sideways at his prone friend. "I'm assuming you never had that talk we discussed during his absence, if the fight this morning was anything to go by?"
Jenny averted her eyes, her face flushing. "We—I hadn't gotten around to it."
"Jennifer…if you really wanted to prove to him that you're sorry for leaving in France, then you ought to have—"
"I know, Ducky, I know." She held up her hands defensively. "Please, just…look, it's obviously not happening. He's in no way interested in even resuming our old friendship, let alone a relationship." Her gaze passed over Gibbs' prone form reflexively, ensuring herself that he was still alive and breathing. "He's moved on; obviously it's time I do the same."
Ducky shook his head, despairing at the two of them. "Honestly, the two of you have to be the most stubborn, hard-headed fools I know. You're both convinced the other wants nothing to do with trying again at a relationship, and neither of you is brave enough to give it a try!" He stood up from his seat, throwing his hands up in the air. "I give up. I'm not dealing with either of the two of you until you sit down and talk."
"Kinda hard for her to do that, Ducky." Tony's low voice sounded from the doorway of the room. "Seeing as Gibbs can't—or, won't wake up, I don't think they're going to be up to any talking for quite a while." He kept his hazel eyes focused on Jenny, rather than look at Gibbs in the bed. "Any changes?"
Ducky frowned critically at the obvious change in subject. "No, but that's a good thing in Jethro's case. I thought you were taking Abby home, Anthony?"
"She was still crying, I figured a relaxing night at Pro—Tim's would make her feel better." He shrugged, fiddling with something in the pocket of his coat. "Besides, I forgot something."
Jenny and Ducky watched silently as Tony looked over at Gibbs for the first time, straightening his shoulders. He approached the bedside, lifting Gibbs' free hand and wrapping it around the NCIS-issue cell phone from his pocket as he leaned in close to his ear. "You don't have our permission to die, Boss. You've got a job to do." With his message relayed, Tony set his hand back down on the bed, turning to leave. Ducky's lips quirked in a proud smile as he patted Tony's back on his way past.
"Tony…what was that?" Jenny frowned at the temporary Supervisory Special Agent of the MCRT.
Tony flashed a sad grin over his shoulder. "Gi—Boss said the same thing to me, when I was dying with the Plague. I figured…I needed to step up and make sure he's got a reason to come back. He's never stood down from a challenge before, he's not gonna start now."
She smiled at his simple logic, murmuring a soft goodbye as he left. She turned her gaze on Ducky, keeping her hand tightly around Jethro's. "I'll make sure we have that talk, once he wakes up. You're right; it's high time we fix things between us. All this fighting is getting us nowhere."
Ducky's face lit up in a smile. "About damn time." He rolled his eyes good-naturedly, standing to retrieve his hat and coat. "I must get home to Mother, I can't leave her with the nurse too long. You'll be alright here, I expect?"
Jenny smiled in reply, squeezing Jethro's hand imperceptibly. "We'll be just fine."
Letters from the Sky- Civil Twilight
One of these days the sky's gonna break and everything will escape and I'll know...One of these days the mountains are gonna fall into the sea and they'll know...
That you and I were made for this, I was made to taste your kiss,
We were made to never fall away...
Never fall away
One of these days letters are gonna fall from the sky telling us all to go free
But until that day I'll find a way to let everybody know that you're coming back, you're coming back for me
'Cause even though you left me here I have nothing left to fear
These are only walls that hold me here
Hold me here, hold me here
One day soon I'll hold you like the sun holds the moon
And we will hear those planes overhead and we won't have to be scared
We won't have to be, we won't have to be scared
You're coming back for me...
You're coming back for me...
You're coming back to me...
A/n: Okay, these plot bunnies keep attacking me. We'll see where this one goes. No more than four or five chapters, tops. I'm in the process of brainstorming for Chapter 2 already, with a few ideas for Chapter 3 also.
Update on TGS: I've gotten Chapter 8 about a third of the way done, so maybe by the beginning of September? I don't know, school's starting up, so we'll see.
Reviews are always appreciated!
-meg